Northern Football Apparel Debuts New Website, Partnership and Custom Kit Program
We covered Northern Football Apparel a while back and got a look into how the brand got its start. Fast forward a year, and they’ve just debuted a new website, secured an exciting partnership and launched a custom kit program — that’s a lot of growth in one year.
Northern Football Apparel is laser focused and has lofty goals with 2020 on the horizon. The rapidly growing brand is putting a different spin on the typical direct-to-consumer soccer gear and apparel e-commerce experience. They’ve instead rolled out a custom kit design program leaves room for more creative offerings.
Northern Football Apparel Custom Kit.
Q. It sounds like 2019 has been an interesting year in terms of growth for Northern Football Apparel. Your new website looks sick, tell us more about that and the new direction the brand is headed.
R: 2019 has been incredible for Canadian Soccer as a whole, and as a result, businesses involved in the growth of the sport have benefited. We've grown quite a bit over the past year, and we couldn't have done it without support from our local community! The shift in focus isn't far off from the direction that we started moving in, as we have always had the word "identity" in mind from the beginning. The new website places a heavy focus on what we will be offering moving forward.
Q. You’ve also created a custom kit program and linked up with dekoGraphics Inc. Give us some insight into the program and how it works (i.e. walk ya through the idea to design process)
Logos from NFA exclusive decorations partner dekoGraphics.
R: Our custom kit program was something we have always had in mind, but it was something that we wanted to make sure were able to do efficiently, and effectively. dekoGraphics Americas reached out to us at the end of 2018, and we were instantly blown away by the quality of their decorations. dekoGraphics Inc. specializes in high quality heat applied garment embellishments, and are the official supplier for some of the top clubs, leagues and competitions in the world. It was a no brainer to create a partnership with them, as we now have access to their exclusive products and professional design team.
NFA Custom Football Gear.
Our aim is to make the custom kit process as simple as possible. Our catalog is pretty concise when compared to other kit suppliers, but the possibilities are endless. The process starts with "The Northern" which is our exclusive cut. Customers are able to pick their choice of collar, design, and colours from our catalog to give us an idea of what they want, and from there we send this to our design team to create an offering. If customers have a different vision in terms of design for their kit, our team is able to come up with something exclusive. There is some back and forth conversation that has to go on, but we aim to bring the customers vision to life with help from our team of professionals. dekoGraphics is with us every step of the way, offering advice in terms of design and type of decorations.
Q. Is this program strictly for teams? How does the causal fan or jersey enthusiast fit into it?
R: The fans haven’t been forgotten! We also do work for supporters groups and fans, as well as collaborated with groups like Generation IX (York 9), The Kevinsiders (Vancouver Whitecaps), and the Balsam Street Bastards (Forge FC) just to name a few. We have worked with them to create custom offerings for their group of fans. The response has been great! Groups like these are a huge part of what drive football in any country, and it's a pleasure for us to work alongside them, and help them out any way we can.
As far as the jersey enthusiast goes, we have plans to release a limited edition version of the Canadian Football Federation Match day jersey. There are plans to create collectors kits, and we are working on this behind the scenes.
Q. What other surprises are in store for 2020. Can we get a sneak peek 👀 or is it a wait and see?
R: 2020 looks to be an exciting year for us, as our custom kit program has officially launched. It's definitely going to be a wait and see, because there's no fun in spoiling surprises, right? What we can tell you for now, is that our offering will be tweaked continuously, and that there are plans to be more involved on the pitch. The rest will have to wait, but we're going to have a hard time keeping it a secret for too long...